


Cats and Mice

by Jaeforthebirds



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Anxiety, Everyone Is Gay, Fluff, Gay Keith (Voltron), M/M, OT3, Polyamory, Romance, Smut, Threesome, Threesome - M/M/M, Voltron Week 2016
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-05
Updated: 2016-10-29
Packaged: 2018-08-19 15:51:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8215429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jaeforthebirds/pseuds/Jaeforthebirds
Summary: Keith is an observant guy, he knows when something is up with his team mates. Nothing is more suspicious then when Shiro suddenly is spending way more time with Lance, and he's going to find out whats going on...even if he goes crazy in the process.





	1. Chapter 1

Nothing says you’re screwed like going into the wrong place at the wrong time, and sometimes you just knew you picked the wrong time. 

The concept of living in a ship with people for months at a time was nothing new, but there was a certain…etiquette that came along with it. Don’t be loud, don’t be a slob, and for the love of God respect someone’s privacy. 

As a standoffish person Keith could appreciate, even be a little to stringent, with the final one, so imagine his dismay when he cut a corner coming home from a mission to find  
Lance leaned back against his an apprehensive look on his face while Shiro hovered above him, hands on his shoulders. They was an tension in the air, and both parties heads snapped up to look at Keith when he walked in.

Frozen in place Keith tried to process what he was witnessing. Not only had obviously walked in on something tense between Lance and Shiro, both parties looked slightly stricken to see Keith standing there. Panic was the only sure emotion he was feeling, he raised his hand in an awkward greeting, and then ducked his head down quickly striding towards the hallway he had been headed for originally. He felt there gazes burning into the back of his head as he left.

The ship had only the soft static hum of the engine; cool lighting dimmed the growing blush that threatened to take over his entire face as Keith quickly marched down the halls. 

Shiro had always seemed like a cool, untouchable figurehead, the pinnacle of power and leadership. Somehow though, Lance had broken through that invisible barrier, his leader was human, was obviously showing Lance some negative attention. At least that’s what it looked like originally…right?

Keith thought of the dreamy look in Lances eyes though, moments before it turned to one of distress when Keith had walked in.

Heat sank deep in his stomach. They had been arguing...right?

Averting his gaze from Coran when he passed him in the hall Keith walked down the empty halls of the castle ship, intent on getting to the bottom of this mystery. 

 

The rest of the week felt like a game of cat and mouse, Keith would be reading a book and look up on find Shiro guiding Lance somewhere with his hand a little lower than necessary, Lance swallowing something with a little more gusto than usual in front of Shiro, as the days passed things seemed more and more lewd to Keith.

The more he saw the two of them together, the more Keith grew suspicious. They had to be up to something. How had they gotten so close? And why was it Lance that Shiro was sharing these secrets with? 

Something about the situation didn’t sit right with him though, while the way they were acting was certainly secretive, but in the oddest ways, Keith would open a door and instead of the two jumping together to hide something they would jump apart. It was almost like they were hiding themselves. Oh. Keith’s eyes widened as a new thought dawned on him. They were hiding the act of being together. 

How were the others not seeing it? Hell, how did Keith not see it sooner? Those two were obviously fucking and were making no real effort at subtitles. The more Keith thought about it the more it pissed him off. What were those two thinking; they didn’t have the time for this kind of juvenile shit. He wanted to stop this immediately, granted, he didn’t have any proof of anything to stop, but he needed to stop it. It was time to do some investigation. 

Keith walked down the smooth, curving corridors of the ship, stopping in front of Pidge’s door. 

“Pidge, you in there?” He called, giving the door a light wrap “I wanna ask you a couple questions.”

“This better be good man, I was in the middle of an excellent dream” The green Paladin mumbled, slipping the door open enough Keith could see that Pidge did look like they had just crawled out of bed. The other paladin was wearing a huge green t-shirt, boxers and has their hair slightly askew. 

“Well, I just wanted to ask if you think Lance and Shiro have been spending too much time together, you know, in general.” He bit the words out, trying not to stutter or say things to intensely. A bit of sweat trickled down his spine. Smooth. Keith had to try and keep this a little subtler; he was here for recognisance only. 

“In general?” Pidge asked tilting there head, “Not really, I mean Lance defiantly needs more help than the rest of us, he’s the least skilled and unfortunately the most confident.” Pidge snorted at there own joke, leaning back against the door frame.

“That’s…it? You don’t think they’re just getting him up to snuff, or more?” Keith asked, leaning forward the more Pidge leaned back.

“What? Why are you asking, you want extra work or something? Don’t you give yourself enough of that?” Pidge said with a speculative eyebrow raise. “Don’t worry Keith, I’m sure Shiro isn’t giving Lance secret techniques behind you back” They stifled a yawn “You think to hard about this stuff Keith.”

Keith shifted, this was going down hill fast. “I just- dosen’t it seem strange to you? ALL this extra work? Even Lance isn’t that bad!”

Pidge raised there second eyebrow to match there first. “Keith, you need to calm down, you sound way to jealous. Try relacxing a bit, be grateful for the break in work.” Turing back around the smaller Paladin shuffled back into there room, not giving Keith any time for a response. Keith stood in front of the door frame, numb. 

So that was it, nobody else seemed to notice that insane amount of physical contact they were sharing? No one else saw the hidden looks they had at dinner? Keith was starting to question himself as well, was it possible that after all was said and done nothing was going on?

He began to walk back to his room, only briefly murmuring an apology to Hunk for bumping into him. Keith needed to take a step back, maybe he obsessing over the wrong thing. Lance was an adult, Shiro was an adult, who cared if they were secretly in a relationship? Not Keith, he was just worried for team dynamics. 

Maybe Keith was crazy.

As much as he tried to logic himself out of why he was bothered by the whole thing he just kept swinging his head back to the fact that Lance and Shiro were possibly fucking. Shiro was pinning Lance down, removing his coat and shirt and running his hands down his body…

Shit. Keith shook his head, trying to physically detangle his thoughts. He lifted his head back up on started actually looking where he was going.

Walking past the mess hall he caught a rare sight these days, Lance sitting alone, clearly finishing up a snack. Relief washed over Keith; maybe he was just imagining how much time the two had been sharing together. 

He turned into the room, hoping to maybe grab a mid morning snack himself before training. 

“Lance, how’s it going?” He greeted, trying to sounds as causal as possible.  
“Oh you know, just filling the old tum tum with chow, gotta carb up before I start my extra long training session with Shiro.”

“Training session…with Shiro?”

“Yep,” Lance said, with a grin that was turning more and more smug, “I know you’re worried you won’t have anytime with Shiro, Keith, but don’t worry, he’ll have plenty of energy for you after” Lance passed Keith, who was rooted into place, slightly stunned, and gave him a firm slap on the back. 

“Anyways, see you later, wouldn’t want to keep Shiro waiting.”


	2. Chapter 2

The next day it seemed everything was normal, the crew was all spread out along the white, curving table in the castle idly eating green goo and listening to Allura give a weekly briefing. Everything seemed normal and Keith had finally seemed to get his head on straight. 

Listening to Allura’s clipped, clear accent while she talked strategy seemed to clear Keiths cluttered thought’s out and refocus. His eyes slowly drifted to his note pad, or they would have, if he hadn’t caught a slight shift in his peripheral vision. 

Shiro was sitting across the table from Keith, listening intently to Allura, his torso turned in her direction. It wasn’t him who Keith saw stir though, out of the corner of his eye Keith saw Lance sitting to Shiro’s right, was squirming ever so slightly, a hooded look to his eyes. The tiniest bit of pink tongue snuck out of the corner of his mouth.

Subtly, Keith glanced down and noticed that Shiro’s right hand was discreetly put under the table. Huh. 

Keith watched, Shiro shifted slightly, so did Lance. Shiro’s arm stretched out, and Lance threw his head back. What Keith had always taken as Lance fidgeting looked to be directly correlated to Shiro’s much more sublet movements. Keith’s head immediately went in the gutter.

The thing is once you have an idea something is going on your brain fills in the rest, soon Keith was picturing Shiro’s hand grazing Lances things, softly creeping up until he reached Lances dick, and then slowly undoing the zipper. His hands would reach inside, past Lances boxers and then slowly start stroking Lance. 

Each turn of Lances head would be Shiro becoming more intense, quickening the pace until Lance couldn’t bare it and the brunette would cum, hot and sticky in his jeans.

Now it was Keith who was shifting. Why had he just thought of that? Shame seeped into himself enough to bring him back to Allura’s lecture, and his own unfortunately stiff erection. 

Not only did Keith not have the luxury of someone jacking him off under the table like he suspected, but now he was uncomfortably aroused, and he had to get through the rest of the morning.

Pink tinged cheeks looked up to see Shiro glance over at him, first casually and then with worry in his face, he mouthed quickly ‘Are you okay?’, double checking to see if Allura was still talking.

Mortified, Keith only managed a quick nod back in response, sinking into his cair; the need to pay attention to what Allura was saying never feeling so high. He missed the slight exchange of looks from the two men across the table.   
Keith sat down on a sleek white couch on the ship, trying to ease himself before Coran came to find him for his physical. Nothing seemed real anymore, the longer he let himself think about something, the more it would feaster, growing until the original concept that had been so small was a huge all consuming addiction. 

Of course, Shiro and Lance sleeping with one another was less of a pressing concern than he would originally encounter, but that just made the matter worse. Instead of being a small, meaningless task that blew out to be bigger, it was a huge concern that had turned into a monster. 

Lance had been going in for private training lessons for over a week now, and while the rest of the crew seemed to be commending Lance for his hard work Keith felt no actual work was getting done.

Every day Lance would leave sweaty and worn out, complain about just how HARD, Shiro was being on him. But despite his seemingly tough workouts, Lance was showing no marked increase in his skill, in fact, he seemed to be getting worse. 

When Keith had left the training area himself, having practiced with the training bot, alone, he took a moment for himself were he leaned against the wall and caught his breath. Lance had drifted past him, fully decked out in his blue pladin gear, obviously ready for a session, but when he had glance as the ‘IN SESSION’ digital sign, it read training level 6. Wasn’t Lance working at level 7? If he had been having all these private lessons, why had he regressed a level? 

However, if that wasn’t enough to set Keith’s warning bells ringing, the group training sessions were. 

Everyone was sparring together, training robots were in the mix, basically Shiro had set them up to have a battle royale of sorts. But as the blades clashed and everyone began playing there roles something was up. Pidge was ducking low, quickly dodging between drones, Hunk holding steady, beating them back painstakingly one by one, and Shiro was on the front lines, with Lance…right behind him. 

The more the battle wore on the more hits Lance missed, his blade kept slipping off the enemy’s, not having enough force to push them off properly. Keith thought that for someone pulling an extra hour of training a day, this just shouldn’t be happening.

Maybe Lance did just suck, maybe he needed more help than Keith realized, but every once and a while Shiro would turn back and notice the brunette struggling. Quickly, and smoothly, he turned around and wrapped a strong had around Lances, smoothly guiding him through the motions of the swing, slicing down a drone together. Lance would often shift into these actions instinctively, but as soon as they were done step out of them quickly, like he’s been shocked. 

 

Lance seemed to be all Keith could see these days, he tracked his movements, looked over his shoulder for him, it was all Keith could do not to plant a tracker on the damn man. 

And whenever Lance would bump into Shiro, electricity would spark. Keith noticed that Lance would always soften into him, but them bounce back like a string being pulled taught. 

While Keith was on the outside looking in, it appeared the two kept as separate from each other as possible, except when they were, well…not. 

Sometimes Keith thought there bodies were glued together. 

The uncertainty bubbled in Keiths gut, giving him indigestion and making him worry. Keith was an obsessive personality, he picked at things with his mind, tearing an encounter apart piece by piece until it made sense to him. 

Shiro had protected Lance, shown how to fight… and covered for him.

Keith knew that Shiro was probably just hiding how Lances skills had dipped recently, but it still stung. The whole thing reeked of favouritism. Why was Lance the one who got special treatment? Why was Lance the one that got Shiro? The others deserved his time. Keith deserved his time.

After all wasn’t it Keith that was always striving to get better? Wasn’t it Keith that worked the longest, improved the most, fought the hardest? Yet here Shiro was, not giving his love and attention to his star pupil, but the under achiever. It was Lance after all that had gotten into the Garrison after Keith had dropped out, not the other way around!

Keith slammed his hand against the couch, skipping his wrist along the pleather and making it sting. He flinched, rubbing his stinging wrist and trying to compose himself just as Coran slid the door open for his physical.

“Ready to go Keith?” The older man says, gesturing him inside with quick hand wave. 

“Yeah, let’s get this over with” 

Keith lifted himself up off the couch and headed into the room, passing through the door frame, the white sterile environment of the medical bay was revealed to him, a smooth blue doctors bench was set up along the back wall, Keith walked over and hauled himself up onto it.

“Feeling alright lately?” Coran asked, tripping his head to the side.

“Y-yeah. Just fine. Maybe a little tired.” 

“Well, fight to save the universe will do that to a person, but make sure to be extra cautious.” Coran waggled a finger at Keith “We don’t want you collapsing on us, do we? Now, let’s get on with this physical.”

Coran then began the tedious process of checking Keiths vitals, weight, height. He had grown an inch since he got here. Huh. Through the whole process Keiths head got fuzzier, as if stuffed with cotton. By the time Coran was finished it had felt like hours had gone by. 

“Sorry to keep you waiting Keith, it’ll only be a couple more ticks, and you can go,” Coran said, typing furiously into the tablet in front of him. “Ah, all done now, I’ll let you know if I find anything out of order.

Keith nodded politely.

“Thanks Coran” He stood to quickly, wobbling a bit. “I’m going to go hit the training area” Maybe some senseless work will knock some sense into him.

Keith gritted his teeth. Lance can do whatever he wants, he’s going to go kick some ass until Shiro has to noticed him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first time writing something ~steamy~ so I hope it turned out okay! Ahhh, I'm so nervous posting this!


	3. Chapter 3

Keith set up the training area meticulously, fiddling with barrier placements and adjusting the density of the invisible maze for a good 20 minutes before he was satisfied. 

Once he was done, he took a step back to appreciate what he had constructed. The ultimate training hell was before him, platforms were set up to sweep across the room in an arch of steps, invisible walls were set to spawn and despawn at random intervals. A whole section of the room was set up to mirror a cliff face, with jagged edges, another area had wires running close to the ground for Keith to crawl. If this setup didn’t take his mind off things he didn’t know what would. 

30 minutes quickly turned into 3 hours, with each slash of his weapon Keith felt a little better, like all the nervous energy that had been building up in him was being sweated out. Beads of perspiration dotted his forehead and made his bangs stick to him. 

Over time, his paladin armour became unbearable, with a quick zip he was free, the air circulated luxuriously around his body, now only in a tank top. The top half of his paladin armour hung loosely, slack like a rag doll. 

More training bots poured out of the dispatch area, flooding the arena once more, Keith looked up briefly at the clock, hour 4. 

Soon he began the elaborate dance he had practiced for himself, quickly jumping between obstacles, making bots crash into one another and explode, causing sparks and bits of metal to rain down. Hopping onto the cliff face wall Keith began to scale it quickly, loosing track of his hands as the speed along the wall.

While shimmying he felt something tug, shrugging it off Keith continued upward, only to meet with more resistance. What..? He pushed harder, needed to keep moving Before he knew it he was being flung towards ground, rocked backwards. 

Keith stared up at the ceiling quickly becoming farther away. His stupid fucking paladin suit. The damn thing must have caught on one of the ledges. Before he could dwell in his own stupidity though, he hit the ground with a sharp whack, and everything went fuzzy, then black.

 

Keith lay there, in the corner of the room for a long time, too dizzy to get up. His training module had flickered out of existence after the first half hour of inactivity, and now he lay in dark, silently willing himself to get up and slink away to his room to hide his injury and his embarrassment. 

Suddenly, the lights flickered on, and Keith heard faint voices.

“Finally, I though Keith would never leave! He’s been watching us to closely lately, I keep feeling like were going to get caught…” 

The voice sounded like Lance. Lance talking about being caught. By him. The footsteps grew closer. 

“He’s certainly been…attentive as of late, I am starting to wonder”

Definitely Shiro this time, shit. Keith could feel his anxiety growing with the incoming steps.

“Well, when are we going to tell him anyways?

The steps were closer now.

“Tell him that were sleeping together? Well…” Shiro’s voice paused, and Keith heard a sharp intake of breath. “Holy shit, Lance!” The footsteps were running now, and suddenly Keith saw boots right before his head. Shiro’s face came into his vision, and Keith realized for the first time just how blurry that was. 

“Keith? Keith are you okay? How long have you been lying hear like this? Answer me buddy” Shiro had pulled Keiths head up between his two hands and was looking him in the eye. 

Keith blinked groggily, taking in all of Shiro and just appreciating the other mans good looks. His lips parted, and he squeaked out an answer. 

“What? Can you say that louder?” At this point Lance was beside Shiro, crouching next to him, he was peering over Keith with worried eyes.

“You guys are sleeping together?” Was all Keith managed to get out before his vision blurred more, and he slumped forward into Shiro’s hands, letting the blackness take him. 

 

The next time Keith opened his eyes he was greeted with glaring white. It was such a harsh contrast to the blackness of his dreams that he physically flinched, groaning and rolling over. 

Keith would have stayed that way for a long time if it weren’t for the firm press of a hand on his shoulder. Keith rolled over, eyes refocusing on the thin, tan face of Lance.

“Hey,” the other paladin said, face tugging into the gentle smile. “How’re you feeling?” 

Keith squinted at him, and made a noise somewhere between a puff of air and a grunt.

“I’ll take that as a not so good.” He laughed, pushing his hair off his forehead “Coran says you have a concussion, so I can’t let you sleep anymore, at least not for awhile.” Keith raised his eyebrows but said nothing, his head really hurt. “You know, you were out of it on that floor for a couple of hours, that must have really hurt. I mean, I know it hurt, you have a concussion. Never mind, we’re getting off track here.” Lance laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head.

“Do you remember anything? About how it happened I mean?” Lances nervous chuckled hadn’t totally subsided, and he lapsed into a fidgety silence, waiting for Keith’s response. 

“I remember it all.” Keith said, trying to sit up, Lance was up though; pushing his back into his bed “I remember what you and Shiro said.” All too soon the warmth of Lances hand was off him, the boy had snatched it away. 

Neither of them made eye contact, Lance was looking off into the corner of the room, trying to look anywhere but at Keith, the hand he’d snatched away was up by his chest, being rubbed by the other one in a nervous gesture.

“So you know then.”

“Yeah.”

“Shit, um, Shiro should be here, we were going to tell you together, it was going to be honest and you…you weren’t supposed to find out this way. This was supposed to be better.” Lance was visibly upset, shifting his weight between leg to leg, almost like he wanted to bolt from the room. Keith stared at him, tired, he wanted answers, not Lance rambling.

“Why were you going to tell me anyways? So I would get off your back? So I would leave you two to just fuck around behind everyone’s backs?” He spit the words out, bitter, and though he wouldn’t admit it, a little jealous.

“N-No! Keith, I really like you, Shiro really likes you! We just, ah, we just wanted to see if you liked us too!” He stepped back towards the bed Keith was laying on, grabbing his hand. “Do, do you like us?” 

Keith was fully awake now, looking at the dumb, sincere guy holding his hand. He could feel something in his chest flutter open, ever so slightly. 

“I don’t know. What? Maybe?” He could feel the grip on his hand jump, and Lance scooted closer to the bed, a goofy smile forming on his lips. 

“Well, I know a way you can know for sure.” He said, smile widening with his words. 

“I’m not sure if that’s very likely-“ Keiths words were cut off by Lance leaning in and kissing him. It was a short kiss, chaste and dry, Keith froze for a second, too put off guard at first to do anything. They parted for a moment, and when Lance leaned in a second time, Keith responded, pressing there lips together, Lance felt so warm he could just fall into him, lost in a sea of Lance, Lance, Lance. He reached his hand back and brought the brunette’s head in closer, dragging him down towards the hospital bed. Lance laced his long finger through Keith’s hair, causing shivers down his spine.

Keith lay there, half propped up in bed with Lance leaning over him, hands in his hair, still kissing him. He felt Lance swipe his tongue on his lower lip, and just as he was about to deepen things Lance pulled away. Detangling himself from the other paladin, Keith fell back onto his pillow.

Looking up Lance was smiling ear to ear, he took a couple steps back and turned and walked towards the door. 

“Well, just think about it okay?” Lance said, handing off the door frame about to enter the hallway “I have to go grab Shiro now.”

Keith lay in his bed, he could still feel a slight tingle on his lips were Lance had kissed him. Well, it was confirmed. Lance and Shiro were fucking. But somehow, it seemed they also wanted to be fucking him. 

And Lance was coming back with Shiro. 

Well, this was a development.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are developing! At this point at my end I'm just biting my lip and hoping things seem to slow naturally cus I have no idea anymore haha.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To be honest this is kind of an in between chapter, the next one will be the last, but we needed to get there first!

Keith had a grade 2 concussion, according to Pidge. He needed to stay in bed and rest for a couple days, and Coran needed to wake him up every few hours through the night. 

In short, the precious piracy he yearned for was always being threatened. Between Coran coming in to make sure he was awake, Pidge trying to get reads on his brain waves for they’re ‘data’ and Hunk trying to feed him into good health he was fried. 

However, the two people he didn’t see during his time in the medical bay were Lance and Shiro. After the blistering kiss from Lance, Keith was filled with a nervous kind of hope he’d never experienced before. As much as Keith wanted the blue paladin to come busting back through the doors, he was afraid. 

The thought of being close to someone was one he hadn’t entertained in a very long time. He’d never been in very long relationships on Earth and the one’s he had been in had blown apart. There was a lot to risk when there was only 7 of them floating in space. 

Lance was supposed to be returning with Shiro, so when he never came back, it must mean Shiro didn’t want to see him, right? Keith groaned, mashing his palms into his eyes. Did Shiro hate him now? Did he ruin the two lovers cover? But Lance had said they both liked him. 

Rolling over, Keith bumped his head against the wall. This sucked. Usually, when faced like a problem like this Keith would simply confront the other person, but Lance and Shiro were not coming by, and he would risk being put in the medical pods if he got up and started wandering the ship, Allura had made that obvious. 

So Keith waited, touching his lips once and awhile absentmindedly, remembering the kiss.

 

Stars twinkled outside the ships window, days had passed, but with the lack of an orbiting sun in space Keith had completely lost track of time. He heard the soft whoosh of the medical bay doors open and he perked up, turning his head around to greet the sound. 

Just Allura. He deflated.

“Keith, it’s good to see you finally looking better.” The princess said, crossing the room to his bedside.

“Yeah, thanks to you and Coran.” Keith said, shifting his weight as he sat upright, trying not to wince as his head throbbed a bit. “Any chance I’ll be able to get out of here soon?”

“As a matter of fact, yes! I was just coming in here to tell you the good news!” Allura smiled winningly, and clapped her hands together “You are free to leave whenever! …As long as you have Shiro escort you.”

“Shiro?”

“Yes, he’s your leader, and he ought to be spending personal time with all of you! I don’t know why he’s been favouring Lance so much lately, but this should push him out of his comfort zone a bit, and you as well! You spend too much time alone, Keith.”

Allura beamed at Keith, and he could see the excitement in her eyes. The poor woman, she really thought this was a good plan. Keith didn’t have the heart to correct her. 

“O-oh, sure. I’m pretty much ready whenever.” He rubbed his arm “You can call him now?” 

“Excellent!” Allura spun around, walking out of the room with a bounce in her step.

Slowly slouching off the bed Keith began to gather all his things with unhurried movements, focusing purely on the task at hand. He would not think about a certain black paladin that was avoiding him. He. Would. Not. 

“You ready to go?” Keith jumped, turning his head slightly; he saw the bottoms of Shiro’s boots come into view. It gave him odd de ja vu of when the man had first found him after falling off the training wall. 

“One sec…” He said, turning away from the boots and the memory, quickly stuffing the rest of his medical bay items into a bag. 

The walk back to Keith’s room was excruciating, the silence hung thickly in the air, and neither man seemed eager to break it. All that could be heard were the steady footsteps echoing off the walls of the castle. 

Keith clutched his bag to his chest, trying not to let it slip. He hadn’t realized how much stuff had accumulated in the few days he had stayed in the med bay, thing kept popping out of his tiny bag, threatening to pour over. As Keith tried to stuff his tablet back into the tiny sack, his elbow clipped a corner. Before he knew it his things had slipped out all over the floor. 

Embarrassed, he ducked his head to pick them up.

He started to lean down when he felt a warm hand on his shoulder, looking up his eyes locked with Shiro’s for the first time in days. They seemed…warm. 

“Let me,” The man said, couching down to gather Keiths items, “I don’t know how you managed to fit everything in this bag.” Chuckling, Shiro handed the bag back to Keith.

“Thanks,” Keith murmured, looking down. He felt a slight pink tint his cheeks.

“Keith…” Shiro started. “Why did you let things get so bad? Why did you push yourself to exhaustion?” 

Keiths head snapped up, and he looked at Shiro with fire in his eyes.

“I knew something was going on between you and Lance! It was driving me crazy! I couldn’t prove anything but suddenly he was getting all this special treatment, but nobody noticed it was special treatment. I thought I was losing it! The only thing I was good for was training at a point. It was the only thing I was certain of.” He felt stupid, hot angry tears prick his eyes. He wiped at them with his free arm angrily, embarrassed. 

Was he really losing it like this in front of Shiro? What little pride he had was shattered. He was about to just call it quits and head for his room himself when he felt the softest fluttering in his hair. 

Shiro was running his fingers through his hair, brining his hand to the back of Keiths neck, titling his head upwards to look at Shiro.

“Keith, are you jealous?” He looked so honest when he asked, concerned, but hopeful. 

“I…yeah. Yeah I was.” He didn’t like admitting it, it showed weakness, but when Shiro smiled at him, he brightest smile he’d ever seen. He felt his embarrassment fade away. 

“I think we might have to have a conversation with Lance once your feeling better about all this.” His hand hadn’t left Keith hair, and he could feel the softest rub of Shiros thumb rubbing circles near his hairline, his spine tingled at the touch.

“Why not now?” Keith asked, brining his hand up to drape loosely off of Shiro’s arm.

“Because your still partially concussed, and anything were going to talk to you about will need your brain firmly out of the fog.” He lowered his hand out of Keith hair. He already missed the feeling. 

“Okay.”

“Okay then, let’s actually get you back to your room then!” Shiro turned to continue to guide Keith down the hall, but this time, one hand was gently placed in the small of his back, guiding him. 

The silence was comfortable.


	5. Chapter 5

The next day, Keith woke up to a knock on his door; he blinked away his groggy sleep eyes, ran his hands through his hair, and stretched. The knocking got louder.

“I’m coming, jeez!” He shouted at the locked door, cracking his neck and stumbling to the door, wrenching it open. He was greeted by a fidgety Lance, standing right outside his door. Not what he was expecting, but he could go with this. 

“Hey” He breathed out, leaning further into the doorframe. “Shiro wants to talk to us.” 

Keith blinked, unsure of how to answer. Luckily he didn’t need to, Lance gently grabbed him by the wrist, and tugged him along the halls. It must have been ‘early’ because the ship was completely deserted, nothing could be heard but there own echoing footsteps. They walk in silence. Unlike the silence Keith had experienced with Shiro the other day, this one was full of nervous energy. 

Lance never let go of Keiths wrist, but instead of walking beside him leisurely like he normally would have done, the other man soldered ahead, one arm slightly behind his body to hold the other in place. Keith felt like a balloon, being dragged along by Lances force alone, oddly weightless and helpless. 

Soon they stood in front of Shiro’s room. Keith thought they’d have to knock, but almost immediately the door whooshed open, and Lance began pulling Keith in once more. 

Shiro’s room was a cast of greys and blacks, a practical monochrome. The bed had thick grey sheet on it that looked especially soft, and there was a sleek L shaped leather couch in once corner littered with white pillows. Shiro was sitting on the couch, clutching a pillow, his head snapped up when he came in. 

“Keith” Shiro said, “You came”

“Well Lance did kind of drag me here against my will.” He said, rubbing his now freed wrist.

“Hey! You know very well you could have bailed at any time!”

Keith grumbled, crossing his arms in a truce. Lance slinked away from him sat beside Shiro, turning to face Keith again.

“You going to sit or what?” Shiro patted the couch to emphasize the other mans point. 

Kieth walked forward, going to sit with the other two paladins, but bailed at the last minute, and sat down a few cushions away. 

Lance looked slightly deflated by the couch arrangements, but let it slide. They all sat around in a pregnant silence, letting the atmosphere seep in. 

“So are you two…dating, or?”

“No!” Shiro shouted.

“Yes!” Lance exclaimed, the two men looked at one another and grinned. 

“Kinda,” Lance said “The whole ‘saving-the-universe’ thing makes it less official than that, but we act like it.” He scooted closer to Keith putting his hand in front of his mouth like he was telling him a secret “Shiro’s nervous about telling the others.”

“Is this what this is about? Look, if you just want me to keep your secret, I can.” Keith motioned to stand. He didn’t want to be around to be lectured. 

“No, no!” Lance said, shimmying the rest of the way along the couch to Keith, he hooked his hand into Keiths. 

“I’ve been dropping hints for weeks hoping you would find out! We’re not here just to keep you quiet about it!”

“What?!”

“Arugh, Shiro can you please explain this better?” Lance begged, giving his kinda boyfriend puppy eyes. 

“What Lances means” Shiro said, climbing up and sitting closer the two other men, “is that yes, were dating, yes we like each other, but we also like you. And as much as I don’t condone it, before I knew it Lance had concocted some hair brained schem to seduce you and without telling me began to enact it.”

Lance flushed, looking down. He never left his grip on Keith’s wrist. Keith himself blinked, dumbfounded. He was liked by…both of them? While they were together? 

“Keith, we could have fought over it, we could have broken up and gone after you separately, but what’s better than a united front?” 

Shiro walked up to Keith then, and titled his head back, Keith let him, too blown away by the whole situation to say anything. 

When Shiro kissed him is was like fire. His lips were thin and firm and the way he titled his head had Keith groping at the front of his shirt, pushing off Shiro’s jacket. Soon a warm tongue was slipped languidly into his mouth, pushing at Keiths in a fight for dominance in a dizzying swirl. 

Soon, warm, strong hands wrapped around his midsection. Lance was there, circling his arms around him, rubbing his thumbs into his hipbones in just the right way. 

When they broke from their kiss Shiro was sliding off Keiths shirt, his calloused rough hand next to the smooth synthetic one rubbing along his skin set Keith on fire. In contrast, Lances smooth, quick fingers were working on his belt, pulling down his fly. 

Keith stretched, trying to wriggle out of his pyjama pants half hard already, lying back on the couch to get a more stable surface than mid air. He soon noticed a lack of hands, and saw Shiro slowly peeling off his own shirt, obviously finishing helping Lance with his. 

Lance got up on wobbly feet, pulling Keith with him.

“Come on” He said, with a mischievous grin, and before he knew it he had yanked Keith forward onto the bed, and on top of Lance. The other man wriggled in approval, wrapping his legs around Keiths midsection. 

A heavier weight was felt on top of them, and Shiro leaned forward, towering over both the other men. 

“Keith,” Lance said, looking at him with more earnestly than he’d ever seen. “I want you to fuck me.” Keith licked his lips, feeling the heat that had been pooling in his stomach grow.

“Yeah, I think I can do that.” He said, leaning in to kiss Lance again, and felt Shrio’s arm press between his legs, reach past him, and trail down to Lance. The other man was prepping the boy quickly, already two fingers in. 

With each thrust of the fingers Shiro’s arm rubbed against Keith crotch, he threw his head back and moaned with Lance, feeling like he was going to explode. 

“Go on now, he’s ready,” Shiro whispered in the cusp of his ear. Keith nodded jerkily, pulling his cock out of the damp material of his underwear. 

As he positioned himself he felt Shiro get up, and move to the other side of the duo, petting Lances chest encouragingly. Keith pushed in slowly; Lance threw his head back and moaned, digging his hands into the plush comforter. 

“Fuck,” He bit out, “You feel really good” Lances was tight and hot around Keith, he slowly began picking up pace, rocking in and out of the velvety hole. 

Lance had gone eerily quite thought out the whole thing, and Keith looked up to find the other mans lips wrapped around Shiro giving, him a blow job, the other man eagerly taking in both of them. 

With each thrust into Lance the boy rocked forward, bobbing into Shiro’s dick. The paces quickened, and both men on ether end gasped. Looking across at one another Shiro leaned forward and grabbed Keith’s head, sealing them all together in a kiss. 

Soon Keiths hips slowed, and he pulled out of Lance and came hard all over the other boys stomach. Shiro stayed in Lance a bit longer, finishing inside the boy who quickly gulped everything down. 

They all flopped in the soft grey comforter, boneless, and fell asleep. 

 

Keith woke to his hair being softly stroked, he leaned into the affection, he hadn’t been pet like this since he was a little kid. Soft giggling could be heard, and then he turned his head the side gently, opening his eyes.

Shiro had one hand wound in Keith hair, carefully pushing it away from his forehead, Lance was lounging on the bed beside both of them, still chuckling at the display of affection.

“Hey sleepy head” Lance said, “We thought you’d never wake up.” Keith blinked, taking in his surroundings. He was layed out on the bed, having somehow made his way under the comforter; his head was in Shiro’s lap, while Lance played with his hair. 

“Hey” Keith managed to croak out, giving them both a loose smile. The other two smiled down at him, making him feel warmer than the blanket did. He could have layed there forever, but soon his old insecurities started creeping back in “This was all really sudden,” He looked up to see the other two men staring at him pensively. “Do…you still want this?”

Lance scooted closer to Keith leaving his ministrations on his head and grabbing his hand instead, Shiro took the other one. 

“It may seem sudden to you, but I’ve been plotting this for months, and Shiro for…well when did you two meet?” Lance turned around to look at a pinking Shiro. Keith felt his own cheeks warm in second hand embarrassment. 

“I know that it’s weird and new, but me and Shiro have been doing this for awhile and it’s been really great, so let’s just try.”

Lances released Keiths hand and brought both of his to Keiths face, leaning in and kissing him softly. Keith felt the two warm arms of Shrio rest on his shoulders.

Keith smiled into the kiss. He felt warm, and surrounded by affection. 

Maybe he could learn to live with a little less privacy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it! The story is done. To be honest I wrote this because my confidence is my writing has been...poor. I thought if I could just write and finish a simple short story I'd feel better starting something bigger, and it has! I've got a bigger, more plot/romance driven story in the works, I hope you'll consider checking it out once it's started :)

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing something ~steamy~ so I hope it turned out okay! Ahhh, I'm so nervous posting this!


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